CHARACTERS.
A little larger than Tamias Lysteri; tail much longer; upper surface, dusky
yellowish-brown, with five nearly equidistant parallel black stripes on the
back, the dorsal one extending to the root of the tail; under surface cinereous.
SYNONYME.
TAMIAS TOWNSENDII, Townsend's Ground Squirrel, Journal Acad. of Natural
Sciences, Philadelphia, vol. viii., part 1, 1839.
DESCRIPTION.
Head, of moderate size; forehead, convex; nose, rather obtuse, clothed with
very short hairs; nostrils, opening downward, their margins and septum naked;
whiskers, as long as the head; eyes, large; ears, long, erect, obovate, clothed
with short hair on the outer, and nearly naked on the inner surface;
cheek-pouches, tolerably large. In form this species resembles T. Lysteri; it
is, however, longer and stouter. Legs, of moderate size; toes, long; the
fore-feet have four toes, with the rudiment of a thumb, protected by a short
convex nail; the palms are naked, with five tubercles. Claws, curved,
compressed, and sharp-pointed. On the hind-feet, five toes, the third and
fourth nearly of equal length, the second a little shorter, and the first, or
inner toe, shortest. Tail, long and subdistichous.
COLOUR.
Teeth, dark orange; whiskers, black; a line of fawn-colour, commencing at
the nostrils, runs over the eyebrows, and terminates a little beyond them in a
point of lighter colour; a patch of a similar colour commences under the
eye-lids, and running along the cheeks, terminates at the ear.
A line of dark brown, commencing at the termination of the nose, where it
forms a point, and bordering the fawn-colour above, is gradually blended with
the colours of the head; fur on the outer surface of the ear, brown on the
anterior parts, with a patch of white covering about one-fourth of the ear. On
the posterior part of the ear there is a slight cinereous tint about six lines
in length, terminating near the shoulder. A black stripe commences on the hind
part of the head and runs over the centre of the back, where it spreads out to
the width of four lines, terminating in a point at the insertion of the tail; a
line of the same colour commences at the shoulders, and running parallel to the
first, terminates a little beyond the hips; another, but narrower and shorter
line of black runs parallel with this, low down on the sides, giving it five
black stripes about equi-distant from each other. On the throat, belly, and
inner parts of the legs and thighs, the colour is light cinereous; there is no
Line of separation between the colours of the back and belly. The tail is, on
the upper surface, grayish-black, having a hoary appearance. Underneath, it is
reddish-brown for two-thirds of its breadth, then a narrow line, of black,
tipped with light ash. Nails, brown.
DIMENSIONS.
Inches. Lines.
Length of head and body . . . . . . . . . 6 9
Length of tail (vertebrae,) . . . . . . . . 4 0
Length of tail including fur. . . . . . . . 5 0
Length of head . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0
Height of ear. . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 6
Length from heel to end of nail. . . . . . . 1 6
HABITS.
No doubt the different species of this genus are as uniform in their habits
as the true squirrels. They are usually found seated low, on stumps or rocks,
at the roots of or near which they have their burrows. Their cheek-pouches
enable them to carry to these hiding-places, nuts, grains, &c., to serve them
for food in winter. Mr. TOWNSEND, who procured the specimens from which we have
drawn up our description, observes, "This pretty little fellow, so much
resembling our common T. striatus, (Lysteri,) is quite common; it lives in holes
in the ground; running over your foot as you traverse the woods. It frequently
perches itself upon a log or stump, and keeps up a continual clucking, which is
usually answered by another at some distance, for a considerable tune. Their
note so much resembles that of the dusky grouse, (Tetrao obscurus,) that I have
more than once been deceived by it."
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.
We have heard of this species as existing from the 37th to the 45th degree
of latitude, on the Rocky Mountains. It probably does not extend to the
eastward of that chain, as we saw nothing of it on our late expedition up the
Missouri river, to the mouth of the Yellow-Stone, &c.
GENERAL REMARKS.
The markings of this Ground-Squirrel differ widely from those of any other
known species. From Tamias Lysteri it differs considerably, being larger and
having a much longer tail; it has a white patch behind the ear, and cinereous
markings on the neck, of which the latter is destitute; the ears are a third
longer than in T. Lysteri. The stripes on the back are also very differently
arranged. In Tamias Lysteri there is first a black dorsal stripe, then a space
of grayish-brown, half an inch wide, then two shorter stripes, within two lines
of each other; which narrow intervening portion is yellowish-white. The stripes
in the present species are at a uniform distance from each other, the dorsal one
running to the tail; whereas, in the other it does not reach within an inch of
it, and the intervening spaces are filled up by a uniform colour.
This species has not the whitish stripes on the sides, nor the rufous
colour on the hips, which are so conspicuous in T. Lysteri.